Chapter 129 A Gentleman's Character is Like a Steadfast Jade Pendant (4)
Could the bloody scent of the Shi family come from the missing girl on the list?
Why were she in contact with Shi Yu? Was it him who did it?
The only possible connection between Yang Hua, an ordinary person, and Prometheus is that she made things difficult for Eric at Su Ni's instigation and has now disappeared. There seems to be no other reason than to silence her.
Those who instigated her back then are no longer around, so what information could she possibly have that would warrant being silenced?
...Why did Yang Hua specifically choose to make her move on the Shi family's home turf?
Shu Ningmiao unexpectedly recalled the memory from two years later, when Ai Ruiji knelt in front of her and said, "That day, I saw Shi Yu with her at the Zhunti Pagoda."
Why was she in Edwina's office before we went back in time?
She still hasn't figured out the answer to this question.
Perhaps only the person who unlocked Edwina's office with their special ability and lured her inside knows the reason behind it all.
She snapped out of her reverie and asked, "Will the police continue to investigate Shi Yu?"
"No," Shu Changyan replied. "Miss Yang's family has already voluntarily given up pursuing the matter. The Shi family has a good reputation, and they won't do something that would be thankless and difficult for both sides."
"But if people continue to go missing, then things might be different."
He patted her head and got up to clear the table: "You should break off the engagement with him now. I don't want to chop off my sister's fiancé's head one day."
Shu Ningmiao suspected that all his previous build-up was just for this grand statement. She picked up the terminal and replied, "You really think so?"
Shu Changyan's lips relaxed slightly, his long eyelashes lowered, and after thinking for a while, he carefully chose his words: "Yes, I don't want you to be sad."
So hopefully she won't be sad because of Shi Yu.
He was a few years older than Shu Ningmiao and had entered the military in his teens. He rarely had days off, so objectively, Shi Yu spent more time with her.
He traveled to various places on missions, often thinking of her. Every time he saw Shi Yu's name in the files and it was associated with her, he would feel a hidden jealousy. It's perfectly normal for teenage girls to fall in love; what's abnormal is him.
They were childhood sweethearts, and she and Shi Yu had always had a good relationship, but he was not a good one.
Everyone has read some princess and prince stories when they were young. Shi Yu often played the prince in these childish stories, while Shu Changyan once thought that he would be satisfied as a knight in her life. Only Shu Ningmiao would say, why does a princess need a prince?
She doesn't need it.
Now he knew that she didn't actually need a knight.
Shu Changyan arranged the porcelain plate, turned his head and spoke, his eyebrows lowered indifferently: "If the old case were to be reopened, he might not be able to live such a peaceful life as a young master now."
He didn't have someone prosecute him behind his back, which was already out of consideration for Shu Ningmiao.
Shu Ningmiao leaned back in her chair, picking at the fruit he had peeled and eating it, her face expressionless: "I told him a long time ago that I would break off the engagement."
Her relationship with Shi Yu was purely based on mutual exploitation; they weren't lovers. Her unilateral termination of the contract demonstrates a lack of contractual integrity, but Shi Yu hasn't agreed to it yet.
The messages on the terminal haven't been updated since the day the two parted on bad terms at the Shi family's house; they're still stuck on the question mark she sent.
Shi Yulian didn't even come to school today.
If the tutor for Class A hadn't changed, she could have asked Weston why he was taking leave.
She took a bite of a raspberry, her fingertips casually swiping across her chat with Shi Yu. Humans are truly creatures that can't stand being nagged; just as she scrolled to the bottom, a new message popped up.
A dialog box appeared on the screen: "Are you home?"
She paused, then replied, "Are you spying on me?"
Shi Yu replied, "Is this what I'm spying on?"
He sent another message: "My mother asked me to deliver this invitation to you. Please open the door, Miss."
His tone was familiar, everything was as usual, as if he had completely forgotten what had happened before, and the two of them had never had a cold war.
She got up from the chair, took the terminal, and walked towards the door.
The smart control at the entrance beeped and a new visitor request popped up, asking if she wanted to unlock the door.
She placed her hand on the handle, about to push it open.
A hand reached over her shoulder and braced itself against the door before she could react.
Shu Changyan leaned down, his hand sliding down the door panel and gently covering her hand. His long fingers squeezed in between her fingers one by one, completely holding her hand.
He still had a faint smile on his lips, but his face had become somewhat dark and unreadable.
A video call request popped up on the central control screen, displaying the visitor's name, with the words "Shi Yu" prominently displayed.
Shu Changyan pressed her hand down, his warm breath brushing against her ear, his face filled with undisguised cold hostility: "Ignore him."
The warm breath, mixed with cold particles, shot through her spine like an electric current to the top of her head. His gentleness momentarily revealed a slightly unattractive aggression. The adult man's hand covered hers as they pressed against the door, forming a small cage.
Shu Ningmiao froze, but not for that reason.
The chill seemed to be just a fleeting illusion, dissipating in an instant. Shu Changyan lowered his body, grasped her loose hair with one hand, and gently placed his lips on her neck, kissing her bit by bit.
Suddenly, he turned his head and gently kissed the tip of her slightly red ear, whispering almost inaudibly in her ear: "Don't worry about him, okay?"
Shu Ningmiao bent her elbow and nudged his chest from behind. Shu Changyan didn't dodge; instead, he hugged her even tighter.
"No way." Shu Changyan teased her, "You can't shake off your brother's hand with that kind of force."
Shu Ningmiao turned around and casually pecked his chin. He always kept himself clean and neat. She had never seen any bloodstains on his fingertips or stubble, but there was still a slightly rough texture there.
Shu Changyan's eyelashes trembled slightly, and the force holding her suddenly loosened.
...It really works every time.
Shu Ningmiao shook off his hand, pushed the door open decisively, and casually approved the visitor request.
The Shi family's driver waited outside for two minutes before finally driving the car into the courtyard, and Shi Yu's figure gradually became clearer in her sight.
He slowly stepped out of the car, wearing a pale white shirt and a camel-brown woolen coat. He stood alone in the courtyard, looking lonely and forlorn.
In just a few days, he strangely lost weight, and his gray eyes were unusually bloodshot.
His sunken eye sockets, caused by his thinness, made his usual melancholic prince demeanor appear somewhat sinister.
His tone on the terminal remained unchanged, but in reality, he was quieter and more silent than ever before, as if his entire being was dead still.
Her gaze was fixed on the tall, slender figure in front of her. Shi Yu also remained silent, staring at her for a long time.
The dim light in the room illuminated his pale, thin face. As if suddenly coming to his senses, he spoke: "Your mother has invited you to a charity gala."
Shu Ningmiao reached out her hand to him.
Shi Yu turned her head to look at the driver, waiting for him to find the invitation.
An invitation doesn't necessarily need to be delivered by the host in person, but it can serve as a reason for his visit.
His profile was exceptionally clear in the night light, his fine platinum blonde hair was neatly combed, exquisite and elegant, a typical dignified and handsome nobleman.
He has always had this noble and aloof appearance ever since Shu Ningmiao met him.
It didn't have the typical child's face—either dark and thin or chubby—nor the messy, dusty hair that comes with mischief.
He was like a flawless, exquisite doll, a "perfect" prince doll displayed on a shelf.
At first, he was just like a doll—he couldn't speak.
At their first meeting, he made a startling statement, telling her, "I have killed people," and remained silent for a long time afterward. But Madame Grana, desperate and clinging to the idea that he was special, invited her to her home almost daily.
Shu Ningmiao never refused. Lady Grana was a member of the upper class, and she had long wanted to make plans for herself. At that time, the superpower she awakened by luck was not within her consideration. Social skills were naturally the most important aspect.
Most of the time, she just went about her own business at the Shi family home, because Shi Yu often stood or sat motionless like a puppet, staring blankly at a certain place in the void. When Lady Grana called him, he did not respond.
But her naturally keen senses make it hard for her not to notice the other person's subtle reactions.
She discovered that Shi Yu did react, but this reaction was not a biological conditioned reflex; rather, it was a natural physical action after understanding the language of others.
It is commonly known as feigning deafness and muteness.
It seemed that only she knew that the mute little boy in the Shi family was faking it. There was no physiological reason or psychological barrier for Shi Yu to speak; he just didn't want to.
She guessed he was faking it, went through the thought in her mind, and then lowered her head to continue reading her book. Her curiosity was very weak, and she tried to keep it within a safe range.
However, one day, this guy spoke to her again.
Thinking about it carefully, it seems that she was the one who spoke first.
It happened when she was carving wood in the garden. The carving knife accidentally fell off the edge of the stone table. Before she could reach out to pick it up, Shi Yu reacted first and grabbed the carving knife that had fallen to the ground.
Fools seem to have a particular fondness for danger.
His grip was also unusual; the carving knife sank straight into his flesh, leaving a horizontal, bright red wound in his palm, with the flesh turned inside out on both sides.
Blood gushed from his palm instantly, but Shi Yu just stared blankly at the blood in his palm, sitting there motionless.
So Shu Ningmiao spoke her first words to him: "Can you be normal?"
As expected, Shi Yu did not react; his eyes were dull, like a stagnant pool in a muddy pond.
Lady Grana had specially invited her to keep Shi Yu company, but Shi Yu deliberately injured herself. Not wanting to give anyone cause for gossip, she got up and left to ask a servant for a medicine box.
When she returned, Shi Yu was squatting on the ground, intently using her pen to poke and kill the insects that had been attracted by the blood, one by one.
Shu Ningmiao took a deep breath, forcefully pulled him up, wiped the blood and dirt off his hands without saying a word, disinfected them, applied medicine powder, and bandaged them up.
The first-aid kit was fully stocked with alcohol and iodine, but she deliberately used alcohol-soaked cotton balls to disinfect his wound.
His hands, accustomed to a life of luxury, had no calluses whatsoever; his fingers were longer than hers, and felt as if they had been pulled from a block of ice.
Shi Yu stared at her silently, letting her manipulate him like a porcelain doll. After a long while, he pursed his lips twice and asked, "Is that person dead?"
Shu Ningmiao asked, "Who?"
Shi Yu maintained a flat tone, looking at her with a gloomy and pale expression: "The person you want to kill."
She went through the few memories they shared and discovered that he actually remembered the time he pinned Su Ni down in the fountain.
Shu Ningmiao raised her eyebrows and looked at him like he was an idiot, slapping the excess powder on his body: "Why would I send myself to a juvenile detention center for him?"
She has many ways to teach people she dislikes a lesson, but she won't try any of them, even if they cause her some real loss, because such people are not worth her time.
Shi Yu's eyes remained unmoved. His inorganic gray pupils stared at her, and when he looked at her, it was completely unpredictable what he was looking at. Like a beautiful ornament, he inexplicably evoked a sense of inhumanity that made people uncomfortable.
His hoarse voice gradually became fluent, and he began to tell a horror story.
Because for most people, the beginning of this story is already terrifying enough.
But Shu Ningmiao is a perfect confidante because she focuses 99 percent of her attention on herself and only 1 percent on others, a principle that has remained unchanged from childhood to the present.
Upon hearing this opening, Shu Ningmiao exclaimed "Ah!"
Shi Yu's voice, like a small bubble, emerged from the pool of blood on the ground: "I killed my father."
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Author's Note: Holding onto even a trace of something, I became ruthless and lost all passion.
Otherwise, Shi Yu would have been mentioned in the previous chapter.
All the romanceable characters who appeared in the game before, except for Su Ni, have their own separate parts (is this a spoiler?).
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